Bitwala is a blockchain banking service, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It aims to close the gap between crypto and traditional banking and thus, promote mainstream adoption. The company raised €4 million ($4.7M USD) last month to launch a blockchain banking set-up to tie cryptocurrency and fiat fund-management together in one account. The service, set to go live next month, has already pre-registered 35,000 customers, according to Bitwala.

“The new offering helps customers to manage cryptocurrencies with unprecedented convenience and benefit from the high level of security and deposit protection commanded by German banking laws,” Bitwala said. “The new bank account offers users SEPA transactions, easy management of recurring payments and comes with a debit card. Furthermore, the bank account features a built-in bitcoin wallet that allows convenient cryptocurrency trading with fast access to liquidity.”

Bitwala’s blockchain bank account will be operated by SolarisBank, which offers a completely digital banking platform to which other businesses can connect in order to offer financial services themselves. Bitwala’s partnership with SolarisBank, which holds a full German banking license, will ensure that euro funds in the bank accounts will be protected up to 100,000 euro, under the German deposit protection guarantee scheme.

“We are very proud to partner with SolarisBank as we launch our new product,” said Jörg von Minckwitz, President of Bitwala. “Their technical services and regulatory umbrella enable Bitwala to be fully compliant with German banking requirements while offering a reliable user experience.”

In June of this year, SolarisBank launched a banking service, called Blockchain Factory, that offers “blockchain company accounts.” These accounts are intended for the banking needs of blockchain companies, which are still not met by most German banks. The service also offers an automated escrow account for people buying and selling fiat currencies in cryptocurrency marketplaces.

“We are excited to be working with Bitwala, a pioneer among Germany’s blockchain companies and the perfect fit for our Blockchain Factory. Together, we will be shaping a part of the future of this industry,” said Peter Grosskopf, Co-Lead of the Blockchain Factory at SolarisBank. “The cryptocurrency and blockchain space still has a lot of challenges. Our SolarisBank Blockchain Factory will help to build a bridge to the fiat world by providing banking services as APIs and more crypto specific solutions.”